Syria’s Cultural Days FestivalSoon - Istanbul

Syria is the cradle of civilizations

The origin of many religions. In that spot of the world, every stone and atom of dust speaks history.

In Syria, The future extracts its power from a splendid history.

There, in Syria, factories and dams stand side by side with historical ruins and cultural establishments.

A Step to Spread the Syrian Culture

A Step to Spread the Syrian Culture

In spite of all the harsh conditions witnessed by the developing countries around the world in general and Syria in particular due to the current war, many Syrians, such as Saadallah Wannous, Malek Jandali and many others, managed to reach the world depending on their literary, artistic and scientific innovations.

The current crisis might be a barrier preventing the members of the new generation’s voices from becoming universal or having the chance to represent their Syrian culture using their own particular tools. The festival, accordingly, is keen on spreading Syria’s culture and the sublime values it contains and uses to face all the stereotypes about war-affected people and refugees.

Turkey is the first country to host the events of the festival. “Syria’s Cultural Days” in its aim to be a recurrent event will visit other countries which hosted Syrians to introduce them to the Syrian culture in a modern manner worthy of the people who inherited it from their fathers and forefathers and who faithfully carried it through the roads of diaspora.

The Festival’s Events

VIP Events

The Opening Ceremony: ((Syria the Pearl of the Orient)) Operetta

The operetta consists of seven tableaus. Each one of them is two to three minutes long tackling the different eras and civilizations which Syria had witnessed once. It starts with the Semitic Civilizations, the Islamic era, the Omayyad State with Damascus as its capital city reaching the current state of affairs with all the suffering and pain it contains

Charity Dinner

As a part of the charity dinner, there will be an auction presenting some of the personal belongings of Syrian symbolic characters, especially the ones which date back to the period of demonstrations. The auction’s income will be used to support projects inside Syria.

General Events

Cultural Cafe

Through this space, the festival offers visitors a calm musical atmosphere which helps them read and enjoy mind games such as chess. The cafe is also a place where visitors can rest during the intervals.

Poetry Sessions and Storytelling Evenings

Since the beginning of the peaceful demonstrations, poetry has played a major role in expressing
Syrian’s demands. The poems, which people have sung or spoken during demonstrations, have spread from Daraa in the south to Aleppo and Idlib in the north.

Charity Fair

Through this corner, the festival creates a platform for humanitarian organizations, civil society organizations and charitable foundations to participate in presenting their services and to clarify their programs.

Minia Syria

The festival will provide a corner for presenting models which resemble the Syrian most famous monuments and ruins; this space aims to introduce visitors to the Syrian history and civilizations.

The Red Carpet

The festival provides a red-carpeted passage, thus, a space where celebrities who attended the event can take photos.

Sports for All Corner

The festival dedicates a certain space for sports activities; there, people will enjoy sports accompanied by a number of specialists.

Healthy Life Corner

The festival provides a corner where women can attend lectures about the best means and practices to be healthy and fit.

Daily Events

Theatrical Shows

The festival provides young dramatists with a distinct space to present their artistic and dramatic works to a varying audience.

Musical Performances

Many Syrian innovators managed to represent Syria and its popular movement through intricate songs and music. The most famous international forums celebrated and welcomed these musicians the way they received the greatest musicians and intellectuals before them.

Comedy Shows

Many Syrian young people chose comedy to overcome their suffering and to maneuver all the obstacles which faced their development representing their lives' smallest daily details to the most fundamental ones.

Children Cinema

The festival provides a corner for presenting children movies to contribute to educating and entertaining children and to enhance their creativity and imagination.

Short Films

While Syrian young people continue to produce similar films, ones which document or address the different and central issues in their life, people did not have the chance to enjoy many of these works.

Folk Dance

The festival presents the major popular and folk dances which belong to different Syrian areas and others relating to holidays and the seasons of harvest to give the public an idea about this inherent artistic heritage.

Puppet Theater

The most distinct feature about theater is its ability to communicate directly with the audience, to examine its reaction and observe the presented show’s success immediately.

Cooking Stage

The festival presents direct shows of famous Arab chefs to introduce Syrian cooking and sweets to the festival's varying audience.

Talents Corner

Many Syrian innovations and inventions remained in the dark, unknown, as a result for the absence of interested establishments which usually sponsor or show concern for such scientific efforts. Accordingly, the festival will form a platform to launch these innovations and a space through which inventors can meet and discuss.

Lectures and Seminars

Many countries around the world have witnessed similar circumstances to these, which are happening in Syria; they faced the same degree of cruelty and harshness. Many philosophers and writers have been exposed to the same conditions.

Youth Platform

A group of young people will present their ideas which are worth spreading. Within a few minutes, the audience will be surprised by ideas or inventions they have never seen before.

Service Related Events

Clinic

The festival will provide an integral clinic which offers Syrian visitors different medical services for free.

Investment Opportunities Forum

The festival's committee will start a forum to bring together the different entities involved in small enterprises and business leadership; these include investors, intellectuals and executive members.

Law Culture Corner

Through this corner, the festival offers Syrians in Turkey a solid chance to know the Turkish laws and regulations which contextualize the relationship between foreigners, the Turkish citizens and establishments.

Job Fair

The festival creates a corner for Turkish establishments and organizations involved in providing Syrians with work opportunities; the corner aims to address unemployment and to offer Syrian capabilities with a chance to work.

Education Fair

The festival will start a forum for Syrian educational institutions, schools and universities to facilitate their work and help them present their services in the best possible manner.

A Fair for Turkish and International Establishments Supporting Syrians

Through this corner, the festival sheds the light on a number of Turkish and international establishments which have been showing a constant support to Syrians.

The Market

Through this corner, the festival provides people with a glimpse about the leading active Syrian companies and establishments in the Turkish market to be a source of inspiration for the entities which are willing to integrate.

Restaurants

The festival will assign a space for many Syrian restaurants to offer the visitors a chance to know Syrian cooking, in addition to a number of Turkish restaurants.

Traditional Bazars

Syrian Traditional Crafts Market

The festival offers people the pleasure of watching Syrian traditional crafts which represent our heritage, such as glass, carpets and mosaic while being made. There will be a specific section which functions as an exhibition for the visitors to walk through as if walking through the real workshops in Syria.

Syrian Handicrafts Market

This market is for Syrian traditional handicrafts which aim to introduce the festival’s visitors to the Syrian heritage and traditions, such as glass making, pottery and carpets. This market will provide the people working in this area with certain material gains.

Al-Hamidiyah Souq

The festival will present a market which simulates Al-Hamidiyah Souq which exists in the different Syrian governorates. Through the market, Syrian individuals and establishments will have the chance to present and sale their products.

Educational Events

The Creative Calligrapher

Corner for Teaching Photography

The festival will present a corner for teaching young Syrians the principles of photography and cinema to enhance the experience of the talented ones.

Corner for Teaching Painting

The festival will present a corner for teaching young Syrians the principles of painting to enhance the experience of the talented ones.

Learning Arabic Corner

Through this corner, the festival presents a space for learning Arabic, especially for non-native speakers by presenting the best tools and means which support the process of learning.

Center for Teaching Handicrafts

The festival provides a corner for teaching women some Syrian handicrafts such as embroidery, knitting and other traditional processes.

RoboLab

The festival will offer young visitors the chance to be introduced to educational programs in the fields of robotics and electronics through constructing a specialized center.

Cultural Exhibitions

Photography Exhibition

Photography has been playing different roles in relation to the Syrian crisis starting with the process of documentation and ending with focusing on the darkened faces of war-affected people’s lives.

Fine Arts Gallery

Fine arts triggered people around the world to take real humanitarian steps to help Syria; the festival will be a platform for all the artists who are willing to present their works.

Syrian Folkloric Customs Fair

The festival assigns a corner to introduce the varying Syrian folkloric customs according to the traditions of each specific Syrian city.

The Syrian Book Fair

This corner is designed to offer the festival's visitors a chance to read and to choose from different publications issued by Syrian bookstores and publishing houses.

Children Events

Children's Educational and Recreational Center

In play, children discharge energy; the festival in its turn and through the workshops and the activities dedicated for them helps these children use their energy to gain new knowledge which aid them to integrate and actively interact with the society surrounding them.

Games Hall

The festival provides a space for children and families which like to have some fun. These games include activities for individuals and families, such as video games, movement activities, sports and the like.

The Storyteller (Al-Hakawati)

The storyteller is a character which occupies an intimate space of every Syrian's memory; it is one of the most popular characters which tell history in a charming and hearty manner.

Special Events

Activities for People with Disabilities

Taking into consideration the constant marginalization of people with disabilities, the festival seeks to be their comfort zone with a special regard to their cultural, motor and recreational needs.

Other Events

Syria Award

Under the name, "Syria Award", the festival will honor a number of distinct and innovative Syrian personalities, who have achievements in different domains and specialties. The process will take place during the festival's closing ceremony.

Syrian Forum

The Executive Entity

The need for the Syrian Forum:

A systemic, sustainable, comprehensive, institutional response that comprises, and goes well beyond, direct humanitarian assistance, to include ways in which the Syrian people can help themselves rise up from the depths of tragedy and despair, and soar further up from there into sustainable security and prosperity.

MISSION

To uplift Syrians' lives by offering accessible, quality services that include humanitarian aid, professional development, job placement, good governance training, policy analysis & advocacy, and media representation in order to set the ground for establishing a society of justice and dignity, founded mainly on internal capacities and self-sufficiency.

VISION

To help Syrians take the lead in securing their own social, cultural, economic, and political security and prosperity based on contemporary standards that are consistent with Syria’s cultural heritage.

PARTNER INSTITUTIONS

IHSAN

Ihsan for Relief & Development is a direct service-oriented humanitarian organization with development goals. It operates directly on the ground in Syria and in Turkey where 2 million refugees live.

RIZK

Rizk for Professional Development provides job-placement services for Syrian refugees in Turkey, thus promoting self-sufficiency among Syrians and reducing reliance on humanitarian aid.

BOUSLA

Bousla for Training & Innovation is an independent training institution. Bousla’s expert instructors train Syrian local administrative councils in areas of effective administration and good governance.

OMRAN

Omran for Strategic Studies is a leading independent think-tank that publishes studies and policy briefs regarding Syrian and regional affairs in the areas of politics, economic development, and local administration.

ALSOURIA.NET

Alsouria.net is the leading independent media outlet that focuses on Syrian affairs and their impact on the region offering original news reports, info-graphics, and analysis directly from within Syria, and beyond.